Learn About Desktop Motherboards

What is it?

It is also called mainboard, logic board, or mobo. It is the PC part that connects all your main PC parts together. Because of this, you can think of it as the platform. Motherboard platforms depend on the CPU socket and chipset. They come in many shapes and sizes. Most used standard sizes are the following:

• ATX

  It is by far the most common. It can come with up to 7 PCIe slots.

• micro-ATX

  Also known as "mATX", it can come with up to 5 PCIe slots.

• mini-ITX

  It usually comes with 1 PCIe slot. Suitable for small builds.

How does it work?

Motherboards work by doing the following (over simplified) steps:

1. Receive power from Power Supply
2. Provide power to all parts
3. Transfer data between all parts

Look for

• Compatibility

  Check CPU socket, memory type, Storage interface, Power Supply connector, PC Case, and Fan connectors

• Sockets

  Check the CPU performance variation provided by the socket

  Some sockets fit CPUs that range from 2 cores to 16 core, this gives you a good upgrade path potential. Others fit CPUs from 2 cores to 8 cores, which is not as flexible.

• Power

  Check if the Motherboard can sustainably provide enough power to the CPU for maximum performance

  Modern CPUs can dramatically increase their power consumption to provide extra performance, however, many of this extra performance can be inaccessible if the Motherboard cannot provide the CPU with the needed power. This is one of the main differences between lower-end and higher-end Motherboards. Unfortunately, nowadays, CPU manufacturers do not report the power consumption of CPUs when operating at maximum performance. One of the reasons for this is that not all Motherboards can sustain maximum levels of performance.

• Ports

  Check port types USB, HDMI, DisplayPort, Audio, Ethernet, and Thunderbolt

  Make sure the port selection is suitable for your needs in terms of connection speed and quantity. For example, if you only use USB 3.0 ports, make sure you get a Motherboard with USB 3.0 ports.

• Memory Slots

  Check if the memory slots are enough for now, and for the future

• PCIe Slots

  Make sure you get enough PCIe slots for all your parts

  Note that each PCIe slot has PCIe lanes, which can come in these configuration: 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 lanes. Make sure to match the PCIe card with the appropriate PCIe slot according to the lanes required.

• M.2 Slots

  Make sure you get at least one M.2 PCIe NVMe slot

  M.2 is a relatively new standard for SSD storage. M.2 PCIe NVMe provides plenty of bandwidth to take advantage of SSD high speeds.

• Wi-Fi

  If you need Wi-Fi, make sure you get a Motherboard with built-in Wi-Fi

  Having Wi-Fi built in the Motherboard will save you a PCIe slot

Avoid

• Overclock

  Avoid overclocking your CPU and/or memory

  For the most part, overclocking your CPU and/or memory will give you negligible results, while increasing power consumption dramatically and could void your warranty.

• RAID

  Avoid RAID when possible

  It is better to get a faster SSD than getting many slower HDDs and putting them in RAID configuration.

• Chipset PCIe Lanes

  Make sure you use PCIe lanes that don't come from the chipset

  Unlike PCIe lanes that come from the CPU directly, chipset PCIe lanes share their bandwidth with each other and other ports too. As a result, heavy use of PCIe lanes that come from the chipset can yield less performance. It is recommended to get the appropriate amount of PCIe lanes needed from the CPU directly. Unfortunately, CPU PCIe lanes and chipset usually are marketed without distinction.

• SATA SSD

  Avoid using SATA for SSD

  SATA SSDs are severely bottleneck by the SATA interface bandwidth. It is highly recommended to get SSDs with PCIe NVMe interface.